In jet propelled watercraft, such as personal watercraft or jet boat, the watercraft can be propelled in reverse by lowering a reverse gate behind the output of the water jet thus redirecting the jet toward the front of the watercraft which creates a thrust in the reverse direction. The reverse gate is actuated by a hand activated lever which, when pulled, lowers the reverse gate in front of the water jet. The lever is placed near the driver's area but the driver must let go of the steering mechanism in order the grasp the reverse lever. Therefore, the driver must drive with only one hand on the steering mechanism while actuating the lever. Also, in some cases they must momentarily divert their attention when reaching for the reverse lever. On some watercraft, the reverse lever is on the same side of the watercraft as the throttle operator which forces the driver to release the throttle operator to activate the reverse gate lever.
In most jet propelled watercraft, the engine and jet propulsion system are connected directly to each other via at least one shaft. This arrangement causes the jet propulsion system to always provide some forward thrust, even when the engine is idling, because the shaft is still rotating. This results in the watercraft moving forward even though the driver is not actuating the throttle lever. One possible solution consists in providing a clutch between the engine and the jet propulsion system, however this can prove to be mechanically complex in view of the limited area available in the engine compartment of these vehicles.
Also, as in most watercraft, jet propelled watercraft are not usually provided with means for actively decelerating the watercraft. The driver must therefore plan ahead of time to decelerate, and eventually stop, the watercraft as they need to do so by letting the vehicle decelerate on its own.
Therefore, there is a need for a way to activate the reverse gate of a jet propelled watercraft which allows the driver of the vehicle to keep both hands on the steering mechanism.
There is also a need for a way to decelerate a jet propelled watercraft.